This was out first trip to Grand Cayman. We selected
Grand Cayman partly because we had not been there and
partly because I could use both Delta Frequent Flyer
miles to get us there and back plus get a couple of free
nights at the Holiday Inn using Priority Club points.
Our main objective was simply to defrost a bit in the
middle of a cold Atlanta winter.

The Delta flights were non-stop between Atlanta and
Georgetown, Grand Cayman and both flights were on
time or early. (Actually, the return trip did something
very unusual... it actually left 15 minutes BEFORE the
scheduled departure time!) The flights were as comfortable
as to be expected in today's coach seats.

The Grand Cayman Airport

Holiday Inn on 7 Mile Beach

The Holiday Inn is pretty new, just opening in November of
2001. Apparently there had been another, smaller HI
closer to Georgetown, but it was sold and torn down to
make room for a big new Ritz-Carlton resort/condominium that
was under construction. The HI was across the road from the
actual beach, but they had a bar, snack bar, and beach
facilities on the beach, so it worked very well. Rooms
were fine, although the AC unit only ran at one speed,
noisy! It blew plenty of air, but was louder than
I would have liked, especially in the middle of the night.
Since the HI charged $2.00 for the coffee packets to go
in the coffee maker in the room, we picked up some
coffee packets, muffins and rolls at a food store and
had that for breakfast most mornings.

The weather was apparently a bit unusual while we were
there... The temperatures ran from mid 60s to perhaps
the high 70s, probably reaching 80 one or two days. The
wind was out of the North to North-East at 15-25 mph,
except for one day it dropped to perhaps 10-15 mph. A
couple of days were mostly cloudy, and a couple of
days were mostly sunny. We got no rain while there
(only some very light mist), but the Saturday before we
arrived, they got over 9 inches of rain in one day.
Although the weather was certainly not ideal, we kept
thinking about the single-digit temperatures we were
missing in Atlanta, and were glad for the warmth we had.
We had planned to get in some snorkeling and possibly some
sailing and windsurfing, but were hampered due to the
relatively poor weather while there. Of the four full days
we were there, most of the snorkle tour operators only ran
one day. After a couple of days of cancellations, we did
manage to take one snorkle/sail tour to Stingray Bay.
Despite one previous bad experience with a stingray, I did
manage to get my hands on a couple of rays on the trip.
This trip included one other snorkle location (just inside the
reef, among some coral) and lunch. Overall the tour (run by
Redsail Sports) was reasonable, but the lunch was mediocre and
did not include anything to drink, pretty well forcing you to
purchase a drink from the "cash bar". We found out later that
all drinks, alcoholic or not, were the same price, so by the
time the $2. per drink (Cayamian dollars) were changed to US
dollars and they ran out of change, our two small cups of
plain canned fruit punch cost $8.00 (US).

On the way to StingRay City

The other days were just too windy for many beach activities,
other than walking. None of the beach sports operators were letting
out any of the few sailboats they had. The day we drove over to
East End and found the one place that windsurfing is apparently
still offered, the wind was too strong for us to consider
going out in a strange (to us) area.

The first night there, we walked toward town and found the
Bella Carib restaurant. It turned out to be the typical
Cayamian restaurant: Italian with an emphasis on seafood.
All 'normal restaurant' meals turned out to be very good,
although certainly not inexpensive.

On the first full day there, after the first try at the snorkel
trip was cancelled, we took the bus (2.CI$) into Georgetown and
wandered around a few hours. Since this was Friday, there were
no cruise ships in port and it was nice and quiet. We checked out
some of the stores and sampled Rum Cake and had a nice lunch at
a Thai restaurant in town before heading back to the HI. That evening
we walked to the Neptune restaurant, another Italian/seafood
restaurant. They served a small, compilmentary, post dinner glass
of "Grappa" that Susan decided she really liked...

A quiet day in Georgetown Area

Calypso Grill and empty plates

I had reserved a rental car (Cisco-Avis) and we picked it on on the
2nd full day and covered much of the west end of the island: the
Turtle farm, Hell, and the southern coast. We had a very nice
lunch (moules, frites, and beer) at the Calypso Grill. That night we
went to the "Cafe Mediterranean" another (you guessed it) Italian/Seafood
restaurant.

The afternoon after we went on the snorkel trip we drove ovver
to the middle of the island and went to the Queen Elizabeth
Botanic Garden. With the (relatively) cool weather and breeze,
the gardens were very pleasent and interesting. That evening
we ended up at Rackem's Bar/Grill on the water in Georgetown.
Although we got there after the nightly Tarpon feeding, there must
have still been about 50 of the large game fish milling around
under the lights.

At Queen Elizabeth Botanical garden

On our last full day, we drove around the island, going along the
south. east, and north coasts, stopping at the various sights along
way: blow holes, wreck of the 10 sails park, etc. It was at
the northeast corner, at Moritts resort that we found the
windsurfing location. We had lunch at Rum Point, a recreation
area on the north side of the island, before returning to
7 mile beach. That evening the HI had a "Caribbean Buffet" on
the beach. This was apparently the first time they had tried this
and the turnout was very light and the food reasonable, but
prepared too far in advance to really be called "good". At
$20.(CI$) per person, it was probably the least expensive dinner
we had, and certainly the most filling.

Rum Point Recreation Area

LightHouse Restaurant

During our stay, we could look out our HI room window and see the
cruise ships in the Georgetown harbor. There were only one or
two until Monday, when we counted 7 ships. That Monday was also
a national holiday (Hero's Day) so we knew that was a good day to
stay away from the downtown and harbor area. On our last morning,
it was very windy and cloudy, so after a long beach walk, we
checked out of the HI and drove to the harbor area to see what it
was like with the 6 cruise ships there. It was interesting
watching all the people and the activities. The ships have to
anchor about a half-mile offshore and ferry the people ashore
via tenders. We just looked around and watched all the activity as
tenders jockyed for dock space and tour operators tried to drum up
business. After watching this for a while we got in the car and
headed to the airport. Airport check-in and customs was quick and
while we waited for flight time we visited the duty-free shops and
sampled the run-cake some more.

Looking down 7-Mile beach at ships in port

Unloading the Cruise ships in Georgetown

Some general observations:

The most common warning we had received about Grand Cayman is that
it is expensive and we found that to be true. We are not extravagent
eaters at all, but probably averaged over $100 (US$) per day for
meals. We stopped in at the Westin resort one evening and had a glass
of wine while listening to a very good piano player: $12 (CI$) per
glass for the house wine!
Although it was certainly warmer than at home, the weather was
inconsistant and (relatively) windy/cool such that you could not really
plan on doing anything that would require good weather.
While Grand Cayman was very nice, and we enjoyed the warmth, we
probably will not be going back soon. It seems to appeal to SCUBA
divers and people who mainly want to sit on the beach or shop the
many stores.... We don't do either. The only apparent windsurfing
and sailing location was on a part of the island where there appeared
to be little else to do at all.